Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo--Why They Don't Deserve a Gamer's Love

People love to argue. They love to pledge their allegiance to something and then defend that object of affection until their death. And I'm not referring to spouses, political parties or sports teams. I'm talking about the video game industry and the incredible amount of conflict it incites amongst gamers.

Like any earnest and impassioned gamer, I have had my share of "which system is better" or "company 'A' is better than 'B'" type arguments. Back in the good ol' Super Nintendo days, I spent hours trying to convince my barbarian friends the superiority the SNES had over the Sega Genesis. It can display 256 colors at one time! It has Mode 7 effects! The games are simply better! To which my ignorant pals would respond, "But we gots da Sonic--plus more sports games!" And I would just sigh.

Well, times haven't changed. People still argue over which of the Big 3--Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii--is the superior console. Some insist one or the other is the best while others try to be diplomatic with platitudes such as "They're all good." But I'm going to be different today. Instead of defending any of these systems myself, I'm going to do a little console bashing and reveal why neither of these consoles, nor their respective companies, deserve much love.

Do They Deserve Love or Scorn?

First, let's examine Microsoft's Xbox 360. Love that Xbox Live, right? Well, too bad the hardware is a piece of junk. Is there even a single launch system left that still runs? Has anyone been lucky enough to escape that dreaded, if expected, Red Ring of Death?

The problem with these defective systems, of course, goes back to Microsoft deciding to rush their hardware to market before the competition. It succeeded, but at the expense of its loyal consumer base which quickly found their beloved machines dying before them. And again and again. Sure, Microsoft finally offered to fix the fizzling units, but not before many customers had already gone out to buy second (or even third) machines. And the company never did officially apologize.

What's sad is that Sony entered the current generation seemingly more enlightened that its competitors. "Unlike Microsoft and it's dictatorial policies, we'll allow you to surf the web, use your own hard drive, install your own operating system, make multiple copies of the games you download, and enjoy all your PS2 games in one convenient fashion," the company seemed to proclaim. And all was good, for a while. But then suddenly the backwards compatibility disappeared, then the Linux support. The flash card readers disappeared and the Blu-ray player took a slight hit in playback speed. And at least one PSN game now has a form of DRM installed. One can defend Sony that some of these changes were necessary for a price drop, and others will point out that some of the good features, such as easy hard drive swap-outs, remain, but the company has simply taketh away too much to be easily forgiven...

Lastly, we have the lil' Wii. Launched at the "bargain" price $250.00, this cutting-edge next-gen system was destined to change the gaming world. But four years later, motion-control is often met with derision and even the Nintendo faithful are still waiting for a significant use of the Wii remote that isn't Wii Sports or a very small smattering of other titles.

Perhaps the problem, in this case, was with misplaced expectations. People expected big things from the Wii, but in truth, Nintendo did not design the Wii to be capable of honoring all those promises. Despite the system's "revolutionary" nature, its hardware was surprisingly similar to a GameCube's. It could go on-line, but only in rudimentary form (no persistent on-line network). The Virtual Console, an on-line haven to allow gamers to revisit gaming's past, showed promise at first but has since been left to wither. And despite Nintendo's claims that motion controls would open the medium up to new exciting types of play, even the Big N itself has been surprisingly conservative with the technology. While we continue to wait for our 1:1 motion-controlled Zelda game, Wii Sports Resort and Boom Blox probably remain the two greatest showpieces for the tech. Sad.

The moral? None of the consoles are perfect, and their makers certainly aren't either. These companies want your money and will do anything they can to get it. So, the next time you feel the urge to defend your beloved system, maybe you should just shrug and walk away.